My plan had been to go to a gig for three consecutive nights. As it turned out I did four gigs in three days because I met Woody at the Dublin Castle who said that his band were doing another free gig at the Camden Eye at 4 pm next day. Which suited me fine as I could then go on from that to the Dublin Castle for a gig starting at 7:30.
So I duly turned up to see Garcia playing, with a new drummer. Or at least a replacement one for this performance. Their regular man being in Budapest. All I can say is one wouldn't have known if Carlos hadn't told us. It also sounded very tight.
Given this gig had no real publicity and wasn't listed as even existing on the Eye's own website, the room was not exactly crowded. For the first half the audience essentially sat on benches all around the room and so we were just a little into double figures. But a highly appreciative little gathering for this display of excellently performed classic rock covers.
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| Carlos really has it all, plays a real mean guitar, seriously good, with an excellent voice and has the looks to boot. Some guys have it all. Oh, and very pretty girlfriend. Quelle surprise. |
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| Woody does not quite dress in stereotypical Geordie fashion... |
After a break for a drink and maybe a fag they returned for more of the same - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Johnny B Goode, LA Woman, Pretty Woman. The audience swelled a bit, and then a bit more as a group of lads out on the piss turned up. And they had a whale of a time dancing to these tunes in quite a Northern Soul fashion. Very decent dancers all the more impressive as holding a pint at the same time. Anyway, they really made the afternoon complete.
Garcia sound wonderful - all they lack is an audience. It will come.
That complete, and after a chat with the band, I had a sushi as dinner and headed to the Dublin Castle for my second gig of the day. Previous night ticket said doors open at 7:30 but actually first act was on at 7:15. Tonight tickets again stated 7:30 but this time doors didn't open until 8!
But being first in I could grab myself a pew, literally a recycled church pew as that is the seating available at the Dublin Castle. Normally I like to be at the front but this time I thought I would take a place at the back. "Back" here means about 3 metres from the stage, so one hardly needs binoculars. This is what it looks like empty. But the venue soon filled. It was packed.
Oh, and another contrast to modern venue like Outhere that I went to on Thursday night. Outhere as ultramodern toilets that you need to work out where the taps and driers are as they are hi-tec affairs. Dublin Castle loos are the other end of the spectrum. If they look grotty, trust me they are worse in real life!
Anyway, onto the gig itself. No support, straight into Straighten Out, who are a (according to their blurb,
the) premier Stranglers tribute act. I did think the audience might be largely people my age. In fact it was almost entirely people my age and older. I guess we are talking folk who were teenage punks in the seventies and now pensioner punks. A sea of bald heads bobbed before me, pogoing and spiky haircuts being rather beyond them nowadays.😀
The band did a very reasonable impression of the real thing, concentrating on the Stranglers' earlier, heavier, punk oeuvre. Which is fine if you like that sort of thing. So Peaches, No More Heroes, Nice and Sleazy, all great punk classics. But I must admit I also like a lot of their later much more melodic stuff like Skin Deep, Always the Sun, Duchess, none of which was touched. Indeed they only played what was by far their best known song, Golden Brown, because a lady went up and specially requested it. I guess this gig appealed to hardcore fans, not so much the generalist like me. So they were certainly good, but to be honest I was getting bored by the end. Of my four gigs in three days, this was the least enjoyable to me. But the crowd seemed very happy.
So end of gigs. Theatre tomorrow night....
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